Ice cube storage hopper and dispenser

ABSTRACT

Ice cubes are made by an ice flake compactor and are conveyed to a storage hopper having a rotatable bottom with a radial slot therein for discharging the ice cubes therethrough. An agitator is mounted within the slot and is radially reciprocated when the bottom is rotated to agitate the ice cubes immediately above the slot so as to separate them from one another and allow them to pass through the slot. The agitator contains wire fingers which project through the slot and cam means for radially reciprocating the wire fingers when the bottom is rotated. A relatively rapidly rotating disc is positioned below the hopper bottom to catch the ice cubes which fall through the slot and move them radially outwardly by centrifugal force and circumferentially into a discharge spout.

United States Patent [1 1 Brindley et al.

[ [CE CUBE STORAGE HOPPER AND DISPENSER [75] Inventors: Richard B. Brindley, La Crosse,

Wis.; Kenneth J. Schroeder, Caledonia, Minn.

[73] Assignee: La Crosse Cooler Company, La

Crosse, Wis.

[22] Filed: Nov. 10, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 305,223

Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner-Thomas E. Kocovsky Attorney, Agent, or Firm.Wheeler, Morsell, House & Fuller 5 7] ABSTRACT Ice cubes are made by an ice flake compactor and are conveyed to a storage hopper having a rotatable bottom with a radial slot therein for discharging the ice cubes therethrough. An agitator is mounted within the slot and is radially reciprocated when the bottom is rotated to agitate the ice cubes immediately above the slot so as to separate them from one another and allow them to pass through the slot. The agitator contains wire fingers which project through the slot and cam means for radially reciprocating the wire fingers when the bottom is rotated. A relatively rapidly rotating disc is positioned below the hopper bottom to catch the ice cubes which fall through the slot and move them radially outwardly by centrifugal force and circumferentially into a discharge spout.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures ICE CUBE STORAGE HOPPER AND DISPENSER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in general to ice making and dispensing machines and more particularly to ice cube storage and dispensing mechanisms which are used in combination with existing ice cube manufacturing mechanisms. When ice cubes from such an ice cube manufacturing mechanism-are conveyed to a storage hopper, the ice cubes in the hopper tend to congeal together and it becomes difficult to dispense them individually from the storage hopper. Accordingly, this invention provides a relatively simple and sturdy dispenser mechanism containing an agitator for separating the ice cubes from one another when they are to be dispensed from the hopper and means for discharging the separate ice cubes from the dispenser mechanism.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The ice cube dispenser of this invention includes a cylindrical hopper having side walls and a bottom. An opening is provided in the bottom for discharging ice cubes therethrough and agitator means is mounted in the opening for agitating the ice cubes thereabove to separate them from one another and allow them to fall through the opening as discrete cubes. In the preferred embodiment, the agitator means includes wire fingers which project through the opening in the bottom of the hopper and cam means for radially reciprocating the wire fingers in response to the relative motion between the side walls and bottom of the hopper.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation view of one illustrative ice making and dispensing mechanism of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged axial sectional view of the ice cube hopper and ice cube dispensing mechanism of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary detail plan view of the ice dispensing slot, agitator means, and cam means disclosed in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary detail cross sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 3 showing one of the rigid agitator fingers of the agitator means.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact -to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in other specific structure. The scope of the invention is defined in the claims appended hereto.

FIG. 1 shows one illustrative embodiment of the invention which includes a lower base plate 10 which is supported by frame members 12. Base plate 10 supports an ice cube manufacturing mechanism 14. The ice cube manufacturing mechanism 14 is driven by a motor 16 and the ice cubes which are produced by the mechanism 14 are forced upward through a plastic tube 18 into a cylindrically shaped storage hopper 20 which is supported by the frame members 12 above the ice cube manufacturing mechanism. The operation of motor 16 is controlled by a controller 17 which may be manually operated but which preferably operates automatically in response to signals from a thermostat element 19 mounted near the top of hopper 20. When the temperature of thermostat 19 rises above a predetermined level which indicates an absence of ice cubes in the immediate neighborhood, the motor 16 is started to replenish the supply of ice cubes in hopper 20. When the temperature of thermostat 19 drops below a predetermined level which indicates the presence of ice cubes in the immediate neighborhood, the motor 16 is stopped. This automatically maintains the level of ice cubes in hopper 20 near the level of thermostat element 19.

In this particular embodiment of the invention, the hopper 20 has a fixed cylindrical side wall 22 and a rotatable circular bottom 24 which is rotated by a motor 26 (FIG. 1) via a drive chain 28 which engages a ring sprocket 30 that is attached to the periphery of bottom 24 and projects outwardly therefrom. The motor 26 is activated by a controller 27 and push button switch 29 to rotate the rotatable bottom 24 whenever it is desired to dispense ice cubes from the storage hopper 20.

FIG. 2 shows the interior details of the storage hopper 20 and its associated ice dispensing mechanism. The cylindrical hopper side wall 22 is fixedly attached to the frame members 12 through a rigid top member 32. The rotatable bottom 24 has a central hub 34 which is journalled to a central shaft 36. The shaft 36 is supported by a rigid bottom member 38 which is attached between frame members 12. An extension sleeve 40 is attached to hub 34 and is journalled at 42 to top member 32. Radially inwardly projecting vanes 44 are attached to the cylindrical side wall 22 to prevent the ice mass within hopper 20 from rotating when the bottom 24 is rotated.

In this particular embodiment of the invention, the ice dispensing mechanism includes a radial slot 46 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) in the rotatable bottom 24. Slot 46 is wide enough to allow individual ice cubes to drop therethrough, but when bottom 24 is not rotated, the ice cubes are normally prevented from dropping through slot 46 by being congealed together at their points of contact. The problem in dispensing the ice cubes is to separate the cubes which are to be dispensed from the other cubes in a relatively gentle manner so that the cubes will not be broken up when they are so separated. In this embodiment of the invention, the separation is accomplished by agitator means which includes an array or grid of rigid wire fingers 48 which are attached to and span between agitator rods 50 beneath the level of the slot 46 and which are shaped with an intermediate bight or loop portion which projects upwardly through the slot 46 to contact the ice cubes thereabove and agitate them when bottom 24 is rotated. As best shown in FIG. 4, the intermediate loop portions of the wire fingers 48 are preferably inclined forwardly with respect to their direction of motion. The leading edge of slot 46 is preferably tapered at 52 to accomodate downward flow of ice.

Activating means for the agitator includes the agitator rods 50 which support the array or grid of rigid wire fingers 48. Rods 50 are slideably attached to brackets 54 which project downwardly from bottom 24 at the ends of slot 46. The rods 50 extend parallel to the edges of radialslot 46 and are radially reciprocated by cam means that will be described hereinafter. Accordingly, when the bottom 24 is rotated, the rigid wire fingers 48 aremoved in unison both radially and circumferentially to dislodge or break the ice cubes above slot 46 loose discrete ice cubes to drop through the slot 46 and down onto a slinger disc 56 which is journalled to shaft 36 through a hub 58. The space between the wire is great enough to admit the cubes as the grid of wire is rotated. The wire fingers 48 are aligned tangentially with their arcs of rotation. Accordingly, as the hopper bottom 24 rotates, the wire fingers 48 sweep in undulating circumferential arcs to subdivide discrete cubes from the mass and drop the discrete cubes by gravity onto slinger disc 56.

A motor 60 is mounted adjacent to the hub 58 and rotates hub and slinger disc 56 at a relatively high speed (e.g. 210 R.P.M.) through a friction drive roller 62 which bears against a cylindrical drive surface 64 of hub 58. The relatively high speed rotation of slinger disc 56 and hub 58 cause the discrete ice cubes which fall through slot 46 to move circumferentially outwardly under the influence of centrifugal force until they enter a discharge spout 66. A movable gate 68 which can be opened and-closed by a rotary solenoid 70 is attached to the bottom of discharge spout 66 to control the output of ice cubes therefrom. Gate 68 is normally opened when bottom 24 is rotated and is closed when the rotation of bottom 24 is stopped.

The radial reciprocation of rigidwire fingers 48 is produced by cam means which includes a sinuous cam surface 72 (see FIG. 3), a cam plate 74 which is attached to the end of the agitator rods 50, and a pair of cam follower rollers 76 which are rotatably attached to cam plate 74 and embrace sinuous cam surface 72. When bottom 24 is rotated by motor 26, the cam fol lower rollers 76 are forced'along the sinuous cam surface 72, thereby generating a reciprocating motion which is coupled to rigidwire fingers 48 through cam plate 74 and agitator rods 50. In the operation of this embodiment of the invention, the slinger disc 56 is preferably normally continuously rotated at approximately 210 R.P.M. by motor 60. The hopper bottom 24 is, however, normally stationary and ice cubes do not fall through slot 46 due to their being congealed together. Also, the gate 68 on discharge spout 66 is normally closed, so that if any ice cubes do enter discharge spout 66 they are not permitted to drop out.

When it is desired to dispense a supply of ice cubes, a container is placed under discharge spout 66 and push button 29 is pressed to start motor 26 and to actuate rotary solenoid 70, which opens discharge gate 68. Although the electrical wiring is not shown in the draw ings, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that suitable electrical conductors extend between push button 29, controller 27, motor 26, rotary solenoid 70, and a suitable source of electrical energy to effect the above described action. The circuit configuration and individual conductor connections to effect this simple action will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

When motor 26 is started, it causes a relatively slow rotation of hopper bottom 24, e.g. l R.P.M. As noted above, this moves cam follower rollers 76 along sinuous cam surface 72 and causes radial reciprocation of the rigid wire agitator fingers 48. The relatively slow rotary motion and concurrent radial reciprocation of rigid wire fingers 48 results in the fingers moving on undulating arcuate paths, thus to gently agitate the ice cubes immediately above slot 46 and separate the lowermost ice cubes from the congealed mass so that they can drop through slot 46. As noted above, the separated or discrete icecubes then fall on'slinger disc 56, which throws them radially outwardly and circumferentially into discharge spout 66, from which they drop into the container thereunder. The slinger disc 56 is preferably continuously operated in this embodiment of the invention, to expedite the discharge of ice cubes, but it may be desirable in other embodiments of the invention to start and stop the slinger disc motor 60 along with the motor 26 which rotates bottom 24. This arrangement would, however, have the drawback of requiring a short waiting time delay for the slinger disc motor 60 to build up enough speed to throw the ice cubes into discharge spout 66.

When enough ice cubes have been dispensed, push button 29 is released, which closes discharge gate 68 and stops motor 26. This terminates the discharge of ice cubes from the dispensing mechanism.

As noted above, when the ice cube level in hopper 20 falls below thermostat 19, the motor 16 is started to actuate ice cube manufacturing mechanism 14 and replenish the supply of ice cubes in hopper 20. When the ice cube level reaches thermostat 19 again, motor 16 is stopped.

We claim: 1

1. An ice cube dispenser comprising a hopper having a side and a bottom and dimensioned to contain a supply of ice cubes, an opening in said bottom which is large enough to allow individual ice cubes to drop therethrough, agitator means adjacent said opening for agitating the ice cubes in the vicinity of the opening to separate them from one another and permit them to drop through said opening, and agitator activating means, said agitator means comprising a plurality of fingers extending above said opening, said agitator activating means comprising means for selectively moving said fingers with respect to the ice cubes in said hopper, the bottom of said hopper being rotatable with respect to the sides thereof, said fingers being attached to said bottom and being rotatable therewith, said agitator activating means comprising motor means for selectively rotating the bottom of said hopper with respect to the sides thereof, said agitator activating means further comprising cam means connected to said fingers for radially reciprocating said fingers in response to rotation of the bottom of said hopper, said cam means comprising a sinuous cam surface surrounding the bottom of said hopper, a pair of cam follower rollers engaging said sinuous cam surface, and means connecting said cam follower rollers to said fingers for radially reciproeating said fingers in response to rotation of the bottom of said hopper.

2. An ice cube dispenser as defined in claim 1 wherein the opening in said bottom is a radial slot which is wide enough to admit individual ice cubes therethrough, and further comprising a pair of agitator rods slideably attached to the lower side of said bottom on opposite sides of said radial slot, said fingers being attached to said agitator rods, a cam plate attached to the radially outward end of said agitator rods, and said cam follower rollers being rotatably mounted on said cam plate.

3. An ice cube dispenser as defined in claim 2 wherein said discharge means comprises a disc rotatably mounted under the bottom of said hopper, means for rotating said disc fast enough to cause ice cubes which drop onto the disc to be moved radially outwardly by centrifugal force, and a discharge conduit mounted near the periphery of said disc for receiving said ice cubes. 

1. An ice cube dispenser comprising a hopper having a side and a bottom and dimensioned to contain a supply of ice cubes, an opening in said bottom which is large enough to allow individual ice cubes to drop therethrough, agitator means adjacent said opening for agitating the ice cubes in the vicinity of the opening to separate them from one another and permit them to drop through said opening, and agitator activating means, said agitator means comprising a plurality of fingers extending above said opening, said agitator activating means comprising means for selectively moving said fingers with respect to the ice cubes in said hopper, the bottom of said hopper being rotatable with respect to the sides thereof, said fingers being attached to said bottom and being rotatable therewith, said agitator activating means comprising motor means for selectively rotating the bottom of said hopper with respect to the sides thereof, said agitator activating means further comprising cam means connected to said fingers for radially reciprocating said fingers in response to rotation of the bottom of said hopper, said cam means comprising a sinuous cam surface surrounding the bottom of said hopper, a pair of cam follower rollers engaging said sinuous cam surface, and means connecting said cam follower rollers to said fingers for radially reciprocating said fingers in response to rotation of the bottom of said hopper.
 2. An ice cube dispenser as defined in claim 1 wherein the opening in said bottom is a radial slot which is wide enough to admit individual ice cubes therethrough, and further comprising a pair of agitator rods slideably attached to the lower side of said bottom on opposite sides of said radial slot, said fingers being attached to said agitator rods, a cam plate attached to the radially outward end of said agitator rods, and said cam follower rollers being rotatably mounted on said cam plate.
 3. An ice cube dispenser as defined in claim 2 wherein said discharge means comprises a disc rotatably mounted under the bottom of said hopper, means for rotating said disc fast enough to cause ice cubes which drop onto the disc to be moved radially outwardly by centrifugal force, and a discharge conduit mounted near the periphery of said disc for receiving said ice cubes. 